| Notes | Criterion Collection Blu Ray edition
Catherine Deneuve’s porcelain perfection hides a cracked interior in one of the actress’s most iconic roles: Séverine, a Paris housewife who begins secretly spending her afternoon hours working in a bordello. This surreal and erotic late-sixties daydream from provocateur for the ages Luis Buñuel is an examination of desire and fetishistic pleasure (its characters’ and its viewers’), as well as a gently absurdist take on contemporary social mores and class divisions. Fantasy and reality commingle in this burst of cinematic transgression, which was one of Buñuel’s biggest hits.
New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Audio commentary featuring Michael Wood, author of the BFI Film Classics book Belle de jour
New video piece featuring writer and sexual-politics activist Susie Bright and film scholar Linda Williams
New interview with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière
Segment from the French television program Cinéma, featuring interviews with Carrière and actress Catherine Deneuve
Original and rerelease trailers
New English subtitle translation
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic Melissa Anderson and a 1970s interview with director Luis Buñuel
New cover by David Downton |
